Linnethia Monique Leakes, best known as NeNe Leakes to her fans, is an African-American actress and television personality. She is well known for her appearance in the popular TV series, The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
She was born on 13 December 1967 in Queens, New York, USA. She has four siblings. While her mother couldn’t take care of all the five children, NeNe and one of her brothers grew up with their aunt.
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NeNe Leakes Reveals Her Husband Gregg Leakes Being Hospitalized For Cancer
The star NeNe Leakes opened up during an Instagram Live with The Jasmine Brand on 28 June 2021 that her husband Gregg Leakes’ cancer has returned.
She said her husband Gregg, who was previously diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer, was recently taken to the hospital and had to undergo surgery.
“He’s been in the hospital for a week, tomorrow,” she shared in part when asked to give an update on Gregg. “I’m sure he’ll be home in about a week or so. He had to have surgery.”
She later added, “I’d love for everybody to pray for Gregg that would be beautiful. Pray for his strength. I was going to say something when he returned home, I didn’t know I was going to say something today. But he’s had this surgery before and he was in the hospital for about 15 days. I expect him to be in the hospital for another week and then home. So yeah, pray for Gregg and pray for me too.”
Gregg Leakes’ first cancer battle was addressed in season 11 of RHOA, which aired in 2018. It was announced in May 2019 that he was cancer-free via NeNe’s Instagram page.
NeNe Leakes Married Life With Husband Gregg Leakes
NeNe Leakes started out strong with her husband Gregg Leakes, but they divorced in 2011 after NeNe didn’t feel like she was being treated right. Fortunately, they ended up reconciling after Gregg said he would do everything in his power to win her back and remarried in 2013.
The two first linked in 1996 when NeNe worked as an exotic dancer, and Gregg persuaded her to leave the job. Afterward, NeNe and Gregg “exchanged numbers,” which led them to blossom some romance in their relationship and eventually tied the knot in 1997.
They welcomed a child together named Brentt Leakes in February 1999. NeNe is mom to Bryson Bryant from a previous relationship, while Gregg is dad to five other children.
During their relationship, NeNe discovered that Gregg allegedly told a radio host in 2010 that he gave his wife $300,000 so she could break into reality TV, per PEOPLE. But he later claimed the figure was exaggerated, and NeNe also fired back, saying that they’ve “lost loyalty and trust.”
NeNe Leakes and her husband, Gregg Leakes (©:PageSix)
After 14 years together, NeNe and Gregg filed for divorce. She told TV One’s Uncensored about her decision to divorce, saying that she “always felt like you have to teach people how to treat you and I felt like at that time Gregg wasn’t treating me the way I felt I should be treated.”
Nonetheless, it was a short lesson NeNe wanted to teach Gregg as they began seeing each other again in 2012, but the pair kept the relationship a private one. Later on January 2013, NeNe told Jimmy Fallon that she was not only back with her ex, but they were headed down the aisle – again. “Well... a little after midnight,” NeNe shared to Fallon, “I was asked this beautiful question: Will you marry me – again?” and she said yes.
NeNe remarried Gregg at the InterContinental Buckhead Hotel in Atlanta in June 2013, and the event was documented on Bravo’s I Dream of NeNe: The Wedding.
Well, they have quite the strange things about their marriage. During an appearance with PEOPLE in 2018, NeNe opened up about the dynamics of her marriage back in 2010 while Gregg was battling cancer. She said they would usually sleep on separate beds as Gregg felt like he didn’t want to give her anything sort of the illness.
In 2020, another strange thing surfaced on the media outlets when NeNe was rumored to have a secret boyfriend named Rodney White. Meanwhile, NeNe denied the claims and said her bond with Gregg was “unbreakable.”
Before it, in June 2019, NeNe tweeted in part, “U find out ur husband/boyfriend been talking on the phone regularly to 1 of ur female employees as ‘just friend’ but u had no knowledge of it, did he cross any lines? Askin 4 a friend sice y’all know EVERYTHING.”
However, NeNe didn’t dish on the details until she appeared on Angela Yee’s Lip Service the following March that her husband was just struck with friendliness with the female employee named Juanita because NeNe was “never available to talk.”
These rumors also led to another speculation that the pair was in an open marriage. While NeNe talked quite a lot about these rumors and she denied having an open marriage during an interview with Extra, even sharing that she and Gregg were “doing a lot in the bedroom.”
Bryson Brant used to be a staple on The Real Housewives of Atlanta, but he has since been off the radar. In the early seasons of RHOA, NeNe welcomed Bryson home after a stint in prison. Later on, in Season 4, it was revealed that he had fathered a daughter named Bri’Asia.
His alleged ex and the mother of son Blaze, Symone Davis, put Bryson on blast posting a video that accused Bryson of having five kids, and she also said that NeNe only acknowledged Bri’Asia. Later on, a source close to Symone revealed that Symone had told Bryson he was the father because she wanted to be part of RHOA.
NeNe loves her sons so much, as a mother should, and is determined to protect them from any harm as a parent can. While she remains a strong mother, she showed some concerns she has for her children after Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed going for a jog in February 2020. Since Leakes has two sons who are “black,” she is even more worried about leaving her children alone to go outside.
Net Worth Of NeNe Leakes And Her Career
NeNe Leakes has been in the entertainment industry for over decades and has relatively earned a fortune of wealth over the years. According to CelebrityNetWorth, she has an estimated net worth of $14 million.
She earns millions from her appearance in several television reality shows, including in the show RHOA, where she reportedly makes a salary of $1 million each season. She also competed in the Dancing With the Stars Season 18, where her average earning ranged between $125,000 and $295,000. Not to mention, she launched a fashion line with Home Shopping Network in 2014.
She currently resides in a lavish mansion in Duluth, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb home. She picked up her home property for $2.1 million back in March of 2015, which boasts quite the lavish decoration and eye-soothing view.
NeNe is best known to have appeared in The Real Housewives of Atlanta (2008) as an original cast member and portrays Roz Washington on the Fox comedy-drama series Glee (2009). She also played Rocky Rhoades as a series regular on the sitcom, The New Normal (2012) on NBC until its cancellation in 2013. She has participated in NBC’s The Apprentice (2004) and ABC’s Dancing With the Stars (2005). She made her Broadway debut as Madame in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella in 2014 and starred as Matron “Mama” Morton in Chicago in 2015.
She was one of the regular panelists on ABC’s revival of the 1950’s game show, To Tell the Truth (2016). Leakes has guest-hosted Anderson Live, The Talk and appeared in Betty White’s Off Their Rockers and The Price Is Right.
What Is NeNe Leakes Doing Now?
In September 2020, NeNe announced she would not be joining the cast of RHOA for season 13. She announced in a YouTube video that was shared on her channel.
A week after her departure, it was clear NeNe was not leaving the show on good terms as she implied Bravo forced her out of the show. Shortly after, Andy Cohen had NeNe’s frenemy, Wendy Williams on Watch What Happens Live dissing NeNe the whole time. The reality star wasn’t pleased and went on a Twitter rampage calling Wendy an “ole cocaine head” and Andy an “ole racist.”
NeNe also revealed to Entertainment Tonight that she did not like the offer she was given. Two months later, she tweeted out a link to a petition to ask fans to boycott the Bravo network. NeNe will never return to RHOA, seeing as she’s burned too many bridges with the network. First, she calls Andy Cohen a racist on Twitter, then she publicly talked about the negotiation process, and lastly, she is trying to boycott the network.
After announcing her departure from RHOA, it looks like NeNe Leakes is on her next venture, owning a restaurant. According to PEOPLE, NeNe shared to her Instagram on October 2020 a picture of her new restaurant, The Linnethia Lounge. “Opening soon… Keep yo eye on me,” NeNe captioned the photo of the outside of the restaurant. “Dress code: Fly,” she concluded. The restaurant also has its own Instagram page as well. It is running its business.